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Whether or not the state will go through with some 3,500 layoffs starting a week from now is up to members and leaders of the Public Employees Federation itself, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said during a Q&A following a cabinet meeting Wednesday morning.

“It is up to PEF. It is up to the membership and the leadership of PEF,” Cuomo said.

His remarks — essentially saying that the ball is in the union’s court — comes a day after PEF President Ken Brynien charged that the governor and his negotiating team don’t appear to be interested in bargaining anymore and are walking away from a potential deal. Brynien on Monday night cancelled a scheduled meeting the next day of his executive board to consider a contract re-vote after the two sides couldn’t come to terms.

Cuomo wouldn’t be drawn into discussing details of any talks, other than to say that his team including State Operations Director Howard Glaser and Brynien are continuing to communicate. “They are ongoing,” he said of the talks. “They are professional, they are cordial. … It really is up to them. I don’t want to see anyone laid off.”

Nor would Cuomo say if there was a precise time at which it would be too late to avert the job cuts. The first batch of those who were notified of layoffs are set to be off the payroll Oct. 19.

“First you need the leadership to vote,” he said, adding the union’s executive board is set to meet on Monday, two days before the first set of layoffs would become effective.

“We’re doing everything we can do, and it is up to the PEF leadership and the PEF membership,” he said.

Cuomo’s remarks came after he unveiled a wide-ranging initiative to increase the efficiency of state government, which includes measures such as consolidating purchasing practices, office space and other functions. He stressed that there is no dovetailing or connection between these moves — which are ongoing and long-term — and the looming layoffs, which are tied to the 2011-12 budget.

“That is a separate track,” Cuomo said, adding they were surprised when PEF members turned down their contract offer in September. That came after the larger CSEA approved what was essentially the same deal. That contract included language that protected CSEA members against budget-driven layoffs, barring unforeseen events; reductions that result from government streamlining moves — which must be approved by the Legislature — are exempt.

Cuomo on Wednesday said the CSEA deal wasn’t an iron-clad promise to never do layoffs.

“It’s not a no-layoff pledge,” he said.

Update: Brynien’s quote about the governor “walking away from the negotiating table” has created a bit of a stir, and as the story in Wednesday’s paper noted, it was in the context of an Oct. 19 deadline for when layoffs are actually supposed to be executed. Brynien said the governor would be walking away if he, the governor, insisted on a union vote on a new contract by the 19th. If Cuomo were insisting on that, it would be tantamount to walking away, said Brynien.

Brynien also noted that another vote would probably take two weeks given the need to print a new contract, mail it out with ballots and then get them back — if a new contract develops.

As Cuomo noted earlier today (Wednesday) talks between the two sides are continuing but he stressed that the PEF leadership would have to vote and then the union membership would have to vote on a new contract offer before layoffs could be halted. It remains a bit unclear, however, precisely how late in the game the layoffs could be stopped.

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